The business competition between Fletcher and Faulconer

Despite losing the mayoral endorsement from the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce to Kevin Faulconer, Nathan Fletcher will showcase his business supporters as well as unions that back him.

The chamber’s executive board on Thursday overwhelmingly voted for Faulconer.

Chamber president and former Mayor Jerry Sanders stood with City Councilman Faulconer later in the day and made it clear the chamber will do all it can to get him elected.

“This marks a new era in proactive leadership for the business community,” Sanders said during a news conference touting the chamber’s endorsement, stressing it was the group’s first mayoral endorsement in seven years.

Supporters of Fletcher say his record on business is clear, pointing to consistently high ratings from groups such as the California Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business during his two terms in the Assembly.

Former San Diego City Manager Jack McGrory, now a CEO of a real estate investment company, said Fletcher’s experience in Sacramento and at Qualcomm, where he now works as senior director of corporate development, serve him well in fostering a business-friendly environment at City Hall.

“I’ve talked to him about making sure he has a strong management structure at City Hall, and he understands he’ll have to recruit top notch business and management people,” said McGrory. “I think he’s trying to strike a balance in the middle, although he’ll have to be careful to not court unions too much because eventually you’ll have to make some very tough financial decisions, and you have to be careful about what kind of commitments you make.”

Fletcher served in the Assembly as a Republican and built what was ranked by unions as an anti-labor voting record. He quit the party when running for mayor last year and became an independent. During that time he continued to attract support from several business leaders who formed a group called “Movement to the Middle.”

Now a Democrat, Fletcher has sought broad labor support in his campaign to replace Bob Filner, who resigned as mayor Aug. 30 amid a sexual harassment scandal.

He has picked up endorsements from city unions representing firefighters, lifeguards and white-collar workers. But it was City Councilman David Alvarez, another Democrat, who received the backing of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council.

The chamber may have been taking indirect aim at Fletcher’s record of party switching when it said about Faulconer: “We know who he is, what he stands for and share his vision for the future of San Diego.”

In one of his most recent votes, Faulconer opposed a prevailing wage law in the city that in essence guarantees higher worker wages on all city projects.

He also opposes raising California’s minimum wage from $8 an hour to $9 next July and to $10 in January 2016.

“I support more jobs for working families, not fewer jobs, which is what this bill will lead to,” Faulconer said Friday of the minimum wage bill. “Common sense tells us companies will hire fewer people, which could stall economic growth.”

By contrast, Fletcher supports both the prevailing wage law and increasing the minimum wage.

One of his biggest strengths, says Fletcher, is the ability to forge agreements between disparate interests such as business and labor. He cited as an example legislation he authored in 2011 that made it easier for craft breweries to open tasting rooms. He also pointed to his efforts in 2012 to avert a strike by janitors in San Diego, many of them working for biotech and high-tech companies whose executives had endorsed Fletcher when he previously ran for mayor.

“In today’s landscape you have certain groups, like the Downtown Partnership, the chamber, who are looking for someone who aligns with their interests,” Fletcher said in an interview Friday. “The same with the Labor Council, but in both of those cases individual business and labor groups came to me. It signals that I want to do what’s best for all of the city, not just downtown interests.”

Restaurant and nightclub owner James Brennan, a Fletcher friend and supporter, said he’s not surprised by the chamber’s decision.

“I like Kevin Faulconer, I think he’s a great guy. But Nathan is more in the middle and more aligned with what I believe in,” said Brennan, who is helping out on Fletcher’s campaign. “I also think he’s a very innovative thinker. I don’t think Nathan or Kevin can affect my business either way. But for the city I live in, Nathan will have a much greater impact, which eventually trickles down to business in general.”

Stephan Weathers supported Fletcher in the 2012 mayoral race and backed President Barack Obama’s re-election. Weathers, the president of SEAT Planners Inc., a convention and corporate event transportation firm, decided to back to back Faulconer this time. He said it was an easy decision.

“He understands how tourism works in San Diego,” Weathers said. “He talks the talk and he has supported tourism in his votes on the City Council.”

Weathers said he found it incongruous to support Fletcher.

“It’s just to odd to me now to support someone who was a conservative Republican who then switched to independent and then Democrat.”

Bud Alessio of the Alessio Investment Company said he’s backing Faulconer was based on readiness to manage the city’s $1.2 billion operating budget and more than 10,000 employees.

“He understands the workings of the city and has a lot of experience,” Alessio said.